


The Power Of Names

by PhenomenalWoman



Series: The Little Jedi [4]
Category: Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Age Regression/De-Aging, Anakin Skywalker Needs a Hug, Brotherly Love, Found Family, Gen, Past Slavery, Tatooine Slave Culture, Tatooine folklore, The tale of Anakin, and his hundreds and hundreds of brothers, inspired by fialleril
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-09
Updated: 2020-07-09
Packaged: 2021-03-05 06:27:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,501
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25169923
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PhenomenalWoman/pseuds/PhenomenalWoman
Summary: AKA how Anakin has a story time with the 501st and the 212th.~“Well, names have meaning on Tatooine. They have power. That’s what my… what my mom said,” Anakin answers an unheard question and looks down at the table, “Anakin means ‘The One Who Brings Rain,’ and rain is freedom on Tatooine,” His face flushes.Obi-Wan frowns and steps closer. Even when Anakin was grown, he never heard anything about that. His former padawan was so determined to leave behind all traces of Tatooine that it was a forbidden subject between them, even more so when his mother died.“And Skywalker…” Anakin trails off, as if the words are lodged in his throat and just won’t come out.“What does it mean?” Cody - Kote, glory - prods gently.
Relationships: Anakin Skywalker & Clone Trooper Character(s), CC-2224 | Cody & Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Anakin Skywalker
Series: The Little Jedi [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1748707
Comments: 32
Kudos: 1204





	The Power Of Names

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Fialleril](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fialleril/gifts).



> All mistakes are my own! Thank you to Fialleril for letting me play around in your sandbox, I hope you like it! I love your work!

The Council made the decision a week ago for the 212th to envelope the 501st legion until they… solved Anakin’s age problem. Along with the 501st, Obi-Wan had also taken on Anakin. 

In all but name and hideous haircut, Anakin is Obi-Wan’s padawan again. He takes to being Obi-Wan’s unlabeled padawan with a gusto that even the first Anakin lacked.

Correction.

He takes to being Obi-Wan’s  _ shadow _ with a gusto. 

When he isn’t attached to Obi-Wan’s hip, he’s following either Rex or Cody around, much to their amusement. 

The two of them are much too soft on Anakin if you were to ask Obi-Wan. Perhaps it’s because they’ve never  _ actually _ interacted with a natural born of Anakin’s age, save for Waxer and Boil who were quite fond of the little Twi’lek girl Numa they met on Ryloth, but all of the clones seem to take on a new life when Anakin is around. 

Obi-Wan pretends not to see Anakin running into various walls while wearing either a blue or yellow helmet more frequently than he would like. 

He also pretends not to see Longshot slipping the boy extra candies right before he’s supposed to go to bed. 

Speaking of the little menace, where is Anakin? It’s been unnervingly quiet aboard  _ The Negotiator.  _

He finds  _ The Negotiator _ ’s resident terror sitting in the mess hall full of clones, 501st and 212th alike, all of them leaning forward and hanging onto the boy’s every word. 

“Well, names have meaning on Tatooine. They have power. That’s what my… what my mom said,” Anakin answers an unheard question and looks down at the table, “ _ Anakin _ means ‘The One Who Brings Rain,’ and rain is freedom on Tatooine,” His face flushes.

Obi-Wan frowns and steps closer. Even when Anakin was grown, he never heard anything about that. His former padawan was so determined to leave behind all traces of Tatooine that it was a forbidden subject between them, even more so when his mother died. 

“And _Skywalker_ …” Anakin trails off, as if the words are lodged in his throat and just _won’t come out._

“What does it mean?” Cody - _Kote,_ _glory_ \- prods gently. 

Anakin’s face screws up, like he’s nervous to misspeak, or like he wants to make sure he gets everything right. “It was said,” He even speaks slowly, like he’s still trying to piece his sentences together, “amongst slaves that one day Ekkreth would come and free all of us. The Sky Walker.” 

Cody’s normally schooled face twists into something nasty, and he opens his mouth, likely to apologize but Anakin keeps talking.

“Slaves are usually nameless.  _ Depur- _ Uhm, masters will let us have a first name, but usually no last name. But my mom said that my great-great-great grandmother named herself after Ekkreth, the trickster who’s supposed to come back and free the slaves,” 

Obi-Wan rubs at his beard. Even on Tatooine, Anakin had the crushing expectations. Ekkreth, the bringer of freedom. The Chosen One, the bringer of balance.

“And,” Anakin’s voice is shaky now, “My mom said she named me that because she knew I was meant for more than just being a slave,” His eyes clench shut, like he’s trying to stop the oncoming tears through sheer willpower, “She knew I was supposed to be Unfettered.” 

The boy doesn’t even realize how he’s commanding the room. Every clone is on the edge of his seat, some practically spilling over brothers in an attempt to get closer. 

“Every slave, Skywalker or not, can be and is Ekkreth, but every slave has the potential to be  _ Leia,”  _ The name is spoken with a reverence, like this person is to be both feared and respected. 

Anakin’s eyes open and, somehow, they lock onto Obi-Wan’s, even from his position in the back of the room behind a sea of men, “Leia is the Mighty One, the ultimate symbol of the Unfettered. Leia is real too, I swear!” He shifts his gaze back to his rapt listeners, who all nod in agreement, “She’s the krayt dragon on Tatooine but… no one ever sees her.” 

Obi-Wan feels a weight settle on his chest listening to Anakin. It could be his delicate Core World sensibilities, but he never dwelled much on the stories that slaves used to get them through the day. He wonders how many times it was these stories alone, of Ekkreth, the Sky Walker, and Leia, the Mighty One, and whoever else was in these stories, that kept Anakin from giving up hope of ever being freed. 

The room falls into a thick silence, but everyone still seems eager for more. The unspoken question is whether or not Anakin is willing to give more. 

The boy looks drained as it is, wiping furiously at his nose and his eyes are fluttering shut with an onslaught of memories. 

“Anakin,” Obi-Wan speaks up for the first time since entering the room and all heads snap around to face him, “Would you be willing to tell us more?” 

Anakin flounders. His mouth opens and shuts wordlessly, his flickering from Obi-Wan to the  _ vod _ that surround him. All he sees are eager faces, hungry for more. 

“Yeah,” Anakin finally answers, “Yeah I can tell you a little more,” 

No one cheers, like how the  _ vod _ usually do when they get something they want. Instead they release shaky breaths, as if they realize just how close they were to losing something that had enamoured them so deeply. 

Is it wrong of them, Obi-Wan wonders, to be so invested in the stories that Anakin grew up on? To be so infatuated with stories that slaves of Tatooine hold so close to their hearts? 

_ A little more _ ends up taking the rest of the day and goes well into the night. Anakin takes on a new life as he recounts the story of how  _ Depur  _ overpowered Ar-Amu, the greatest deity of Tatooine, in the ancient days and stole her children from her, and that’s how they became slaves. Ar-Amu was so devastated that she couldn’t even cry and that to this day her tears are dry.  _ But, _ Anakin interjects with the barest hints of a smile on his face,  _ She made a to promise to us. She promised she wouldn’t abandon us, and that we weren’t meant to be slaves. One day, the skies will open and Ar-Amu will finally weep, and Depur’s power will be destroyed and our chains broken. _

It’s always ‘we’ and ‘us’ and ‘our’ with Anakin when he talks about the slaves of Tatooine, as though he’s still there with them, waiting for the rain to come. 

Maybe, Obi-Wan thinks, he still is. 

A memory knocks on Obi-Wan’s mind. A decade ago, the first time Anakin had been a little older than ten, Anakin had told Obi-Wan about his friend Kitster and how the two of them planned to lead a slave rebellion. The unspoken  _ Like Ekkreth _ is loud and clear now that Obi-Wan knows enough to listen for it. 

Anakin tells them about the secret language of the slaves,  _ Amatakka, _ and even promises to teach them a little. 

“ _ Anahkeen,” _ The boy stretches the vowels out, and his usual Outer Rim accent thickens even further, “That’s how you would say my name in Amatakka!” 

Anakin tells Cody and the men around him that they’re all  _ upans _ : brothers. His gaze travels back across the room and bores into Obi-Wan’s very soul.

_ Upan. _

Obi-Wan finds himself mouthing the word as he stares back. He has a feeling he’ll be using that word a lot more. In fact, he’d bet all his credits that  _ everyone _ will be using that word a lot more. 

The vocabulary lesson is cut short when Anakin yawns and his eyes begin to flutter, and it’s Cody who beats everyone else to the punch by scooping the boy up before he can collapse onto the table. The commander’s eyes shine as Anakin curls into his chest. 

Anakin is too old to be picked up and carried around like how most parents do with their children, but he’s still so  _ small _ for his age. Even so, no one on  _ The Negotiator _ is any less keen to gather the boy up and carry him around, even for small distances. And Anakin enjoys being doted on, even though he never says so. 

(Obi-Wan  _ also  _ pretends not to see Hardcase deadlifting Anakin when he’s in the gym.)

Cody dutifully passes Anakin off to Obi-Wan, their so handoff well practiced that Anakin doesn’t seem to notice he’s being traded until he feels the softer fabric of Obi-Wan’s robes. 

“Hi,  _ upan, _ ” Anakin whispers bashfully into Obi-Wan’s collarbone.

“Hello,  _ upan,” _ Obi-Wan echoes. 

His exit from the mess hall is smooth so that Anakin remains undisturbed as he tips back into a light sleep. 

Obi-Wan tucks Anakin into bed and brings the thick blankets up to his chin. The boy doesn’t stir through any of it. 

_ Good, _ Obi-Wan thinks as he runs a hand through Anakin’s hair,  _ Even Sky Walkers need to sleep some time. _

**Author's Note:**

> As always, comments are appreciated! Also, I recently got a tumblr, so check me out at darth-clone!!


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